Language and Culture Exam 1

Linguistic Anthropology

Studying language in terms of use and cultural import (social/cultural impacts)

Ethnography

In depth study of a culture or cultural practice

Linguistic Competence (vs. Communicative Competence)

Underlying rules of a language often unconscious or ‘hidden knowledge’

Phonology

Knowledge of the sounds of a language. How to produce them, how to combine them)

Morphology

Knowledge of which sounds have meaning in a language.

Syntax

Knowledge of how sentences are formed in a language.

Semantics

Ability to determine the meaning of sentences.

Phonemes

The smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances. (pat vs. bat)

Allophones

Sound that have two variants that can make a meaning in different languages or not (puh, fuh, etc)

Morphemes

the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language.

Characteristics of Human Language

symbolic, learned, productive, displacement

Nonverbal Communication Types

artifacts (things), proxemics (proximity), haptics (touch), kinesics(movement), paralanguage(speed, loudness, type of talking, etc) 

Emblems

thumbs up, middle finger, “okay” sign, etc

Icon

a type of symbol that “looks like” or is similar to what it represents (emoji)

Anthropomorphism vs. Umwelten

• The attribution of human characteristics to non-
  humans.

• the specific way in which organisms of a particular species
  perceive and experience the world (umwelten)